The Katha Sarit Sagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story Part 92

[298] For the wors.h.i.+p of trees and tree-spirits, see Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, p. 75 and ff., and Tylor's Primitive Culture, Vol. II, p. 196 and ff.

[299] I here read durdasah for the durdarsah of Dr. Brockhaus' text. It must be a misprint. A MS. in the Sanskrit College reads durdasah.

[300] The Guhyakas are demi-G.o.ds, attendants upon Kuvera and guardians of his wealth.

[301] Literally--having the cardinal points as her only garment.

[302] For the circle cp. Henry VI. Part II, Act I, Sc. IV, line 25 and Henry V. Act V, Sc. 2, line 420. "If you would conjure, you must make a circle." See also Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 272. Veckenstedt's Wendische Sagen, pp. 292, 302, 303. See also Wirt Sikes, British Goblins, pp. 200, and 201; Henderson's Northern Folk-lore, p. 19, Bartsch's Sagen, Marchen, und Gebrauche aus Meklenburg, Vol. I, pp. 128, 213. Professor Jebb, in his notes on Theophrastus' Superst.i.tious man, observes "The object of all those ceremonies, in which the offerings were carried round the person or place to be purified, was to trace a charmed circle within which the powers of evil should not come." Cp. also Grossler's Sagen aus der Grafschaft Mansfeld, p. 217, Brand's Popular Antiquities, Vol. III, p. 56; Grohmann's Sagen aus Bohmen, p. 226.

[303] i. e. by the fire of Siva's eye.

[304] Perhaps we ought to read sadehasya. I find this rending in a MS. lent to me by the librarian of the Sanskrit College with the kind permission of the Princ.i.p.al.

[305] i. e. Siva.

[306] In this wild legend, resembling one in the first book of the Ramayana, I have omitted some details for reasons which will be obvious to those who read it in the original.

[307] i. e. the six Pleiades.

[308] Mr. Tylor (in his Primitive Culture, Vol. II, p. 176) speaking of Slavonian superst.i.tions, says, "A man whose eyebrows meet as if his soul were taking flight to enter some other body, may be marked by this sign either as a were-wolf or a vampire." In Icelandic Sagas a man with meeting eyebrows is said to be a werewolf. The same idea holds in Denmark, also in Germany, whilst in Greece it is a sign that a man is a Brukolak or Vampire. (Note by Baring-Gould in Henderson's Folk-lore of the Northern Counties). The same idea is found in Bohemia, see Grohmann's Sagen aus Bohmen, p. 210. Cp. Grimm's Irische Marchen, p. cviii.

[309] I read asta for asu.

[310] rajas in Sanskrit means dust and also pa.s.sion.

[311] i. e. immunity from future births.

[312] i. e. desire, wrath, covetousness, bewilderment, pride and envy.

[313] Cp. the aethiopica of Heliodorus, Book VII, ch. 15, where the witch is armed with a sword during her incantations; and Homer's Odyssey, XI, 48. See also for the magic virtues of steel Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, pp. 312, 313.

[314] See Veckenstedt's Wendische Sagen, p. 289, where a young man overhears a spell with similar results. See also Bartsch's Sagen, Marchen und Gebrauche aus Meklenburg, Vol. I, p. 115.

[315] I read tan tad.

[316] Called more usually by English people Allahabad.

[317] This incident reminds one of Schiller's ballad--Der Gang nach dem Eisenhammer. (Benfey Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 320.)

The story of Fridolin in Schiller's ballad is identical with the story of Fulgentius which is found in the English Gesta Romanorum, see Bohn's Gesta Romanorum, Introduction, page 1. Douce says that the story is found in Scott's Tales from the Arabic and Persian, p. 53 and in the Contes devots or Miracles of the Virgin. (Le Grand, Fabliaux, v. 74.) Mr. Collier states upon the authority of M. Boettiger that Schiller founded his ballad upon an Alsatian tradition which he heard at Mannheim. Cp. also the 80th of the Sicilianische Marchen which ends with these words, "Wer gutes thut, wird gutes erhalten." There is a certain resemblance in this story to that of Equitan in Murie's lays. See Ellis's Early English Metrical Romances, pp. 46 and 47. It also resembles the story of Lalitanga extracted from the Katha Kosha by Professor Nilmani Mukerjea in his Sahitya Parichaya, Part II, and the conclusion of the story of Damannaka from the same source found in his Part I. The story of Fridolin is also found in Schoppner's Sagenbuch der Bayerischen Lande, Vol. I, p. 204.

[318] Literally creeper-like.

[319] There is a double meaning here; kshetra means fit recipients as well as field. The king no doubt distributed corn.

[320] i. e. the G.o.d Ganesa, who has an elephant's head.

[321] Seven princ.i.p.al mountains are supposed to exist in each Varsha or division of a continent.

[322] There is a reference here to the mada or ichor which exudes from an elephant's temples when in rut.

[323] raga also means pa.s.sion.

[324] The quarters are often conceived of as women.

[325] In the XVIIIth tale of the Gesta Romanorum Julian is led into trouble by pursuing a deer. The animal turns round and says to him, "Thou who pursuest me so fiercely shalt be the destruction of thy parents." See also Bernhard Schmidt's Griechische Marchen, p. 38. "A popular ballad referring to the story of Digenis gives him a life of 300 years, and represents his death as due to his killing a hind that had on its shoulder the image of the Virgin Mary, a legend the foundation of which is possibly a recollection of the old mythological story of the hind of Artemis killed by Agamemnon." [Sophoclis Electra, 568.] In the Romance of Doolin of Mayence Guyon kills a hermit by mistake for a deer. (Liebrecht's translation of Dunlop's History of Fiction, p. 138) See also De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, pp. 84-86.

[326] I. g. Uma and Parvati. Kama = the G.o.d of love.

[327] Cp. Lane's Arabian Nights, Vol. I, p. 96; also an incident in Gul and Sanaubar, (Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 144).

[328] Here there is a pun, suvritta meaning also well-rounded.

[329] i. e. burnt herself with his body.

[330] Purogaih means "done in a previous life," and also "going before."

[331] Cp. Gaal, Marchen der Magyaren, p. 364; Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Marchen, Vol. I, pp. 285 and 294.

[332] I read with a MS. in the Sanskrit College patisnehad for pratisnehad. The two wives of the G.o.d of Love came out of lovo to their husband, who was conceived in Vasavadatta.

[333] Vidyadhara--means literally "magical-knowledge-holder."

[334] The ceremony of coronation.

[335] Ambika, i. q., Parvati the wife of Siva.

[336] Liebrecht, speaking of the novel of Guerino Meschino, compares this tree with the sun and moon-trees mentioned in the work of the Pseudo-Callisthenes, Book III. c. 17. They inform Alexander that the years of his life are accomplished, and that he will die in Babylon. See also Ralston's Songs of the Russian people, p. 111.

[337] A period of 432 million years of mortals.

[338] More literally the cardinal and intermediate points.

[339] Reading manomrigi, the deer of the mind.

[340] Member of a savage tribe.

[341] I. e. of the pearls in the heads of the elephants.

[342] I. e. the sun.

[343] Throbbing of the right eye in men portends union with the beloved.

[344] No doubt by offering the flowers which she had gathered.

[345] Like the two physicians in Gesta Romanorum, LXXVI.

[346] A peculiarly sacred kind of Darbha gra.s.s.